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Decryption of VBK Files
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Recover Encrypted VBK Files
VBK files are primarily used by Veeam Backup & Replication software, a widely used program for backing up and recovering data in virtual environments.
These files contain backup copies of virtual systems, including virtual machines, applications and data, allowing systems to be restored in the event of a failure or data loss.
Unfortunately, in recent years there has been a worrying increase in ransomware attacks targeting VBK files. Ransomware is a type of malicious malware that breaks into systems and encrypts files, making them inaccessible to legitimate users. The attackers then demand a ransom (usually in cryptocurrencies) to decrypt the files and return them to users.
VBK files have been the target of these attacks due to their critical importance to business continuity. Since VBK files are responsible for storing the backups of virtual systems, encrypting them means compromising the entire ability to recover data and systems in the event of incidents or disasters.
This puts organizations in a vulnerable position where they face the possibility of irreparable data loss and disruption to their operations.
Ransomware attacks have caused huge financial and operational losses for affected organizations. In addition to the ransom demanded by the attackers, companies can face business downtime, loss of critical data, reputational damage, and legal litigation.
In many cases, even if the ransom is paid by the company, the data is not recovered, so payment is not recommended. VBK file decryption is possible, without the help of the decryption key, through the unique solutions offered by Digital Recovery.
Why Digital Recovery?
Our technologies allow us to decrypt VBK files, our specialized in decrypting ransomware. We have been in the data recovery market for more than two decades.
Our solutions are customized, so they can be tailored to each client’s needs.
We know that confidentiality in ransomware attacks is critical, so we provide a confidentiality agreement (NDA) to all our customers, but if you feel more comfortable using an NDA developed by your own company, we are willing to accept it after review by our legal department.
We are used to decrypting data on virtual machines, RAID systems, databases, storages, servers, and more. We have a large number of satisfied clients with our work.
For cases of extreme urgency, you can count on our emergency mode recovery, with which our labs work with 24×7 availability.
Contact us and start decrypting VBK files right now.
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Customer experiences
What our customers say about us
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Answers from our experts
Is it possible to recover a corrupted or encrypted VBK file when Veeam can no longer open it?
A VBK file can become inaccessible for several reasons, including corruption of internal metadata, damage to data blocks, storage failures, incomplete transfers, problems with the backup repository, or ransomware attacks.
In these cases, Digital Recovery performs a low-level analysis of the VBK’s internal structure to identify which regions of the file remain intact and assess whether it is possible to reconstruct virtual machines, virtual disks, databases, or other critical data stored in the backup.
A failure in Veeam Backup Validator, for example, does not necessarily mean that all the content in the VBK has been lost. In many cases, only certain regions of the file are compromised.
What is the difference between Veeam VBK, VIB, and VBM files?
The VBK is typically the full backup file and contains the data required to form a complete restore point.
The VIB is an incremental backup file. It stores the blocks that have changed since the previous restore point.
The VBM is a metadata file containing information about the backup chain, such as jobs, virtual machines, restore points, and the relationship between the different files.
In an advanced Veeam backup recovery process, all of these files can be important. However, a missing or corrupted VBM file does not necessarily mean that the VBK is unusable.
A ransomware attack encrypted only part of a VBK file. Is recovery still possible?
The VBM file helps Veeam identify the structure of the backup chain and its corresponding restore points. However, the actual data is stored primarily in the VBK and VIB files.
When the VBM file is corrupted, deleted, or simply no longer available, the existing VBK and VIB files can be analysed directly in an attempt to reconstruct the backup structure and recover the virtual machine data.
Veeam itself also allows, in certain situations, a VBK file to be imported directly without the corresponding VBM file.
A VIB file in the middle of the backup chain is missing or corrupted. Is it still possible to recover the subsequent restore points?
In a forward incremental backup chain, each restore point normally depends on the original VBK and the sequence of VIB files created afterward.
If an intermediate VIB file is missing or severely corrupted, subsequent restore points may no longer work through Veeam’s conventional restore process.
However, this does not necessarily mean that all data has been lost.
Earlier restore points may still be intact, and a specialised analysis can identify recoverable information in the remaining files within the chain. Depending on how the data is distributed and the type of damage, it may also be possible to partially recover information belonging to later restore points.
Is it possible to recover an isolated VIB file without the original VBK file?
It stores only the changes made since a previous restore point and therefore depends on the backup chain initiated by a VBK file.
For a conventional restore, Veeam normally requires the entire corresponding backup chain up to the desired incremental restore point.
However, an isolated VIB file should not be discarded. In advanced recovery processes, it may contain important data blocks that could potentially be used to reconstruct files, virtual disks, or other information, especially when other components of the original backup chain are still available.
A ransomware encrypted only part of a VBK file. Is recovery still possible?
Many ransomware groups use partial encryption methods to speed up the attack. Instead of encrypting very large files in their entirety, they may modify only specific regions, block ranges, the beginning and end of the file, or a certain percentage of its contents.
In a multi-terabyte VBK file, this may mean that large amounts of the original data remain physically unchanged.
During the analysis, we identify which regions were affected by the ransomware and determine whether enough Veeam structures and data blocks remain intact to reconstruct virtual machines, VMDKs, VHDXs, files, or databases.
For this reason, the possibility of recovery depends far more on which regions of the VBK were encrypted than simply on the overall percentage of the file that was affected.
Is Veeam’s native encryption the same as encryption caused by ransomware?
Veeam has its own mechanisms for encrypting backups in a legitimate and planned manner. When Veeam’s native encryption is enabled, the correct password or information related to the key management system used in the environment is generally required.
Ransomware, on the other hand, performs an external modification of existing backup files.
In a recovery project involving a VBK file affected by ransomware, the objective is to analyse the damage caused by the attack and determine whether the original Veeam data can still be reconstructed from the preserved portions.
For this reason, during the diagnosis it is essential to inform the recovery team whether the backup was already using Veeam’s native encryption before the attack.
Veeam Backup Validator is reporting CRC or integrity errors. Does this mean the backup has been lost?
Veeam Backup Validator checks the integrity of the blocks stored in the backup by comparing their current checksums with those recorded when the backup was created.
When there is a mismatch, it means that some content has been altered or corrupted.
However, a CRC error or validation failure does not automatically mean that the entire VBK file is compromised.
A specialised analysis can identify which areas remain intact and determine whether it is still possible to reconstruct metadata, virtual machines, VMDK or VHDX disks, file systems, and other important data.
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What you need to know
Veeam Extract Utility also cannot open the VBK file. Is there still any alternative?
Yes, there may still be an alternative.
Veeam Extract Utility was designed to extract virtual machines from backup structures that can still be interpreted normally by Veeam.
When there is severe corruption in the metadata, internal structures, or data blocks, the tool may no longer be able to process the file.
Digital Recovery takes a different approach.
Instead of relying exclusively on Veeam’s conventional restore tools, we perform a low-level analysis of the damaged backup to locate valid data and determine whether the underlying virtual machine information can be reconstructed.
Therefore, the fact that Veeam Extract Utility cannot process the VBK does not necessarily mean that all recovery possibilities have been exhausted.
Does it make a difference whether the Veeam backup contains VMware or Hyper-V virtual machines?
Yes, especially during the data reconstruction and validation stages.
A Veeam backup may contain virtual machines from VMware or Microsoft Hyper-V environments.
Depending on the source platform, the recovered virtual disks may be in formats such as VMDK, VHD, or VHDX.
In many projects, it is not necessary to fully reconstruct the original VBK file. The objective may be to recover the virtual disks directly, as well as guest operating system files, databases, or other critical data stored within a specific virtual machine.
Can you recover only a VMDK or VHDX file without reconstructing the entire VBK file?
Yes. In many cases, this is the most efficient approach.
When a VBK file is damaged to the point that a conventional restore is no longer possible, but the data associated with a specific virtual machine is still sufficiently preserved, we can focus the project on reconstructing the required VMDK, VHD, or VHDX disks.
After the virtual disk has been recovered, a second stage can also be performed on the virtual machine’s internal file system.
This approach is especially useful when the client needs to recover only one or two critical servers quickly, rather than all the virtual machines originally stored in the backup.
Is it possible to recover SQL Server, Oracle, or Exchange databases stored inside a damaged VBK file?
Yes, depending on the condition of the data.
After reconstructing the virtual disk or the corresponding file system, the recovery process can be directed toward specific application and database files.
This may include Microsoft SQL Server MDF and LDF files, Microsoft Exchange EDB databases, Oracle databases, and various other formats used in enterprise environments.
In severely damaged backups, the process may involve two distinct stages.
First, we recover the data from the Veeam container or virtual disk. Then, when necessary, we perform a specialised recovery directly on the resulting database files.
Does the Veeam backup type — forward incremental, forever-forward incremental, or synthetic full — affect the recovery process?
Yes. The backup strategy used by Veeam directly affects the relationship between the files in the backup chain and can have a significant impact on the recovery process.
A forward incremental chain, for example, is typically composed of a full VBK backup followed by a sequence of VIB files.
Strategies that use active full or synthetic full backups, on the other hand, may create new full backup points over time.
For this reason, we recommend preserving and providing the entire set of files available in the repository.
During the analysis, we identify which VBK and VIB files belong to the same backup chains and look for different restore points or full backups that may contain better-preserved versions of the data.
In certain cases, another VBK file available in the same repository can significantly increase the amount of recoverable data.
After identifying corruption in the backup, should I continue running Veeam jobs, health checks, or synthetic full backups?
If this backup is your only available copy, the priority should be to preserve it.
Avoid performing operations that may modify the backup chain or repository before creating a complete copy of the affected data.
We also do not recommend deleting VBK, VIB, or VBM files simply because Veeam identifies them as corrupted.
Whenever possible, create a full copy or image of the repository before carrying out repair, retention, compaction, health check, synthetic full, or other procedures that may modify the files.
This precaution is especially important in incidents involving ransomware or storage failures.
A file that Veeam is currently unable to restore may still contain large amounts of usable data that can be recovered through a specialised recovery process.
Other data recovery companies have already analysed my Veeam backup and said there is no solution. Is it still worth trying?
Yes.
A previous unsuccessful attempt does not necessarily mean that all technical recovery possibilities have been exhausted.
Digital Recovery has developed proprietary solutions for recovering complex Veeam backups, including corrupted, damaged, and ransomware-affected VBK files.
Over the years, we have successfully resolved several cases that had previously been analysed by other major international data recovery companies without achieving a satisfactory result.
Naturally, every incident has different characteristics, and no recovery can be guaranteed before a technical analysis.
However, if you still have the original VBK, VIB, and VBM files, or an intact copy of the affected repository, we recommend preserving these data and submitting them for a new specialised assessment.
Even when conventional Veeam tools or other recovery companies are unable to make further progress, a different approach and low-level analysis may reveal recovery possibilities that have not yet been explored.
